Politics

Michelle Obama Policy Axes Cupcake Fundraiser For WWII Vets

Students at Waccamaw Middle School in Pawleys Island, S.C. did something pretty cool this spring when they baked cupcakes and cookies to sell during lunchtime to raise money so six World War II veterans could go on an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C.

If the kids want to act similarly selflessly this academic year, though, they’ll be out of luck.

They can thank first lady Michelle Obama for getting them out of such do-gooderism.

The 2010 Hunger-Free Kids Act that the first lady has strongly advocated now prevents such bake sales at all schools taking the associated federal funding.

As of July, new Smart Snacks standards created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for over 30 million American school kids stringently limit the number of calories and the amount of sugar, fat and sodium in every morsel of food sold at taxpayer-funded schools — including cupcakes for fundraising.

Specifically, snacks must contain fewer than 200 calories. No more than 35 percent of the calories can come from fat or from sugar. Sodium is limited 230 milligrams. One problem, obviously, is that it’s hard to determine the nutrition content of homemade cupcakes.